


Skyfront Drabbles

by Silverdoe_isobell



Series: Skyfront Fics [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work, Skyfront
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Multi, and all the feels that come inbetween
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 04:20:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 4,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13756176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverdoe_isobell/pseuds/Silverdoe_isobell
Summary: A collection of all of the pieces of writing I've done for our Dungeons and Dragons campaign over the past year. Not posted separately because I don't quite hate myself that much yet. Expect a range of quality (I may go back at some point and re-edit).





	1. Restless Slumber

**Author's Note:**

> For context, this piece takes place on the night after Fay'vre's best friend dies (and is brought back). Let the angst proceed.

Before falling asleep that night, Fay'vre looks to her left, across the room, towards Hannah's sleeping form. Or maybe she's not sleeping, but she's pretending at least. For all these years, Fay has been able to keep guard, protect them both from harm, stop her friend from falling in battle. But today, when it actually happened, when the worst came to pass, she couldn't stop it. She was powerless to do anything, she couldn't even kill the damned vampire herself. What  
made her think that she was powerful enough to help those she loved? How had she always thought that?

Yes, she had her god on her side, but it wasn't Helm's duty to do her job for her. He had helped in his own way, once Hannah had fallen, and if she hadn't anyway been secure in her faith, today would have caused that.

No, the blame for this mess was all Fay's, and she would remember. If another of her comrades (friends?) had fallen, she'd have been upset, but that was the way life worked. The cycle must continue or chaos would take over. There was a reason why eternal life was offered by evil creatures rather than those of good, after all. Death was a necessary part of life.

But not in this case. It wasn't Hannah's time, and in any case, Fay had sworn to protect her. She hadn't necessarily told Hannah this, but it was an unspoken promise, one which didn't need to be voiced. And she'd broken it.

As sleep began to numb senses, Fay'vre drifted off into a restless slumber, these same thoughts echoing throughout her mind. Before falling asleep, she thought resolutely to herself: "I will talk to Hannah in the morning".


	2. Piracy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look back at an occurance from Fay and Hannah's four years of travelling, pre-campaign.

Airship travel was something that Fay had grown accustomed to, despite her initial hesitance to trust such a machine with her life. Hannah had assured her that this one was safe, and trusting Hannah's opinion was also something that she'd grown accustomed to in recent months. It was strange, respecting somebody who you barely knew. Fay trusted Jamie because she was well trained and well educated, and because she'd known her for years. But this was different, almost instinctive. It was against her better judgement to trust Hannah with her life, but here she was, doing it anyway.

For the most part, the airship was decent enough. Well, there were cannon holes in some of the rooms, and the staff were a bit scrappy, but at least the food was good. And they hadn't died (yet). If she were able to rate this vessel, Fay would give it a 6/10. Decent enough.

What Fay hadn't been expecting on this ordinary day of travel was pirates. But alas, they didn't stop to ask whether it was appropriate for them to intrude, they just burst in uninvited. Another airship nudged up alongside theirs, and a troupe of flamboyantly dressed renegades swung onto the deck. Hannah had popped back down to their cabin, to grab her gun cleaning supplies or other such nonsense, so Fay faced them alone (aside from the useless, scrappy deckhands).

With a glance at her armour, they grinned and demanded gold, treasure, "the lot". A red-skinned tiefling did most of the talking, smirking throughout as if he knew something she didn't. And that pissed her off. When his guard was sufficiently down, Fay having attempted to look submissive, she flicked her sword up to his throat, locking eyes with him. She whispered "call off your men", but this apparently didn't phase the idiot. 'Of course,' she thought to herself. 'Typical.'

His laughter at her threats only caused Fay's blood to boil more furiously, and at the sight of her friend coming up the staircase behind him, gun held steady, she yelled, "now!" and proceeded to knock him on the head with the hilt of her sword whilst Hannah dealt with the underlings.

Later that day, after having tied the pirates up in the hold and sequestering their ship, Fay turned to Hannah with a victorious smile. When Hannah cocked her head, clearly wanting to know more about the encounter that she had missed, Fay merely elaborated with "he was an arsehole" and a smirk, before wandering off to find the cook and enquire what she was cooking for supper.


	3. Whisky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another glimpse of Hannah & Fay's pre-campaign travels.

After a particularly harrowing day of adventuring, Hannah and Fay’vre found themselves sitting in a bustling tavern that sat in the outskirts of a large market town. The room was full of regulars, chatting happily amongst themselves and only occasionally sending the women odd glances. Hannah didn’t seem to mind the small amount of attention that they were attracting, and she waved the barkeep over to take her order.

“One firewhisky please,” she said, in her clipped, even tone. She turned her attention to Fay’vre, briefly asking “you want anything?”

Fay, unused to ordering from such an establishment, paused to consider her options. She could order elven wine, a delicacy that she was used to drinking back home, but that would probably only attract more attention and she’d rather avoid that if possible. There was also the fact that the drink was fairly costly, so she should dismiss this idea from future considerations given her independence from the family wealth.

Then there was ale, which the peasants around them were consuming with gusto. It was probably cleaner than the water supply, so she couldn’t fault them for drinking it, but she’d rather not go anywhere near the stuff. If there was one thing she knew, it was that she didn’t like ale... Magnus had ensured that.

After deliberating for a few seconds, she said “another of whatever you’re having”, hoping that Hannah’s taste in alcohol was decent. If worst came to worst, she could always hold the glass for the duration of the evening and act as if she were drinking it.

* * *

Later on in the evening, Fay’vre reassessed her situation. Throughout the course of their stay in the bar, Hannah had consumed at least 2 more of the drinks she’d ordered upon arrival, which didn’t seem healthy to Fay but who was she to say (after all, she’d failed the medical portion of her cleric training). Several men had made advances on the duo, and had then cursed them upon being rejected. Her vision was a little blurrier than it had been upon arrival, and she wouldn’t be swinging her sword until her system was rid of this toxin, but she would be able to carry Hannah out of the tavern if it came to it.

The most surprising element of the evening was Hannah’s drunk personality, which was a lot... cuddlier than her usual disposition. Fay got a little more talkative after consuming alcoholic beverages, but it seemed that Hannah became clingy and in need of affection. Well, that was an exaggeration, but in comparison to non-drunk Hannah, drunk-Hannah was touchy-feely. Not that Fay minded (though she’d definitely be bringing this up once her friend  
was sober), it was just a shock to the system. She’d certainly have a lot to discuss with Hannah the next day.


	4. Bouquet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even more pre-campaign fluff.

Some days, there's no adventure to be had and Fay is left to wander the streets of whichever city Hannah has dragged her to. On this day, the city was Freya, which Fay had grown so accustomed to that she'd go as far as saying she liked it. Though having nothing to do was a little bothersome - she'd much rather have an errand or some sort of task to keep herself busy than this "window shopping" as Hannah put it.

Just as Fay was about to turn around and walk back to the tavern they were staying in out of frustration, a pop of colour caught her attention. Striding towards it, Fay observed that the cart in question was loaded with piles of freshly picked flowers, lined up according to colour. The arrangement was pleasing to her eye, especially the purple end of the spectrum, and after spending several minutes chatting with the shopkeeper, she bought a large bundle of flowers  
and proceeded on her way.

By the time that she reached the tavern, her large armful of flowers had diminished to a small bouquet, as she'd taken to handing the blooms out to strangers who needed them. Though she wasn't particularly sentimental, Fay could acknowledge the fact that flowers brought people joy, and that wasn't a bad thing in itself. Children playing on the street ran along with a small violet tucked behind one ear, young women bouncing babies on their hips walked away with lavender laying alongside the groceries in their baskets, and other solitary travelers continued on their way with a lily of the Nile adorning their coats.

Perhaps her day hadn't been wasted after all.


	5. Breathe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lil angst anecdote from during the campaign (linked with Chapter 1: Restless Slumber).

She had been ready to carry on, before she'd felt Helm's presence and figuring out that she didn't need to. Though she hadn't quite known what to say, she'd been taking in a breath - the sort you take in before bursting into tears - and had been ready. But Helm knew her thoughts before she even had to speak them, and "please save my friend" was enough.

On the long nights where she didn't need to take a watch, whilst Hannah was still asleep, Fay would whisper the words she hadn't spoken that day. She'd whisper into the night, the endless darkness that extended for eternity, needing to let it out.

"Please save my friend. She's all I have, and I've failed her, and I need to make amends. I promised her mother that I'd protect her, and I've failed. But I need a second chance. This can't be the end."

Some nights she'd cry, some nights she'd just stare, some nights she wouldn't even say the words out loud. But she pleaded nonetheless.


	6. Idioms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-campaign fluff.

Fay had never understood the concept of friendship. Sure, she'd had what other people called friends, but of the two that she could think of: one was related to her and she'd regularly slept with the other, so she didn't really think that they counted.

Becoming friends with Hannah had come out of nowhere, while simultaneously happening in front of her eyes. It had been a gradual process, over the course of a couple of years, through snickering at one another's jokes to trusting that Hannah had her back in a fight. She only noticed it when they were in combat (however infrequently it occurred), when she felt the need to protect the human, to stop attacks from landing.

She hadn't questioned the impulse in the midst of the fight (that was bound to go badly), but she thought about it later. A lot. These sorts of thoughts are the kinds that get people killed! This had been the stage of their relationship that Fay and Jamie had called things off, they hadn't wanted that kind of attachment. And yet... She didn't mind this protectiveness of Hannah. Somehow, it didn't bother her.

When she eventually met Hannah's parents, it really hit home that she would consider the woman a friend. Despite not caring about her line of work, Fay was genuinely intrigued to see where Hannah had come from. She could see her smile on Arthur's face, and her frowns in Molly's stern expression of concern at the recent wounds that she'd sustained. Fay heard the little idioms of Hannah's speech in the way that her parents talked, and the verbal ticks that they all used. It was strange, being so curious, but she embraced it. After all, she might as well get to know her best friend seeing as how they spent so much time together.


	7. Numb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A moment of unconsciousness from the campaign.

Darkness falls as Fay’vre closes her eyes, crying out in pain as she collapses on the ground. Like the snow that seeps into her clothes, a cold feeling envelopes her consciousness until she can no longer stay awake.

At a certain point she gives up on the idea of waking; it feels as if she has been unconscious for an eternity, slipping further and further away from life with every snowflake that lands on her unmoving body. Rather than panicking - because she is dying, this is it - Fay’vre moves into a state of numbness, more concerned with who she is leaving behind than of her own trajectory.

Hannah will be alright, she thinks to herself. _She’s always been able to look after herself, and it’s not as if she hasn’t dealt with loss before._

It seems fitting that she gave up her life in service of someone else’s quest. She has never really had a purpose, aside from the vague concept of carrying out the orders of a god she’s never conversed with. It’s nice that she could help Aya as her last act, even though she didn’t get to help Carolina. _She’ll understand._

Everyone else will be able to sort out their problems. Amthos never seemed to need her help anyway, determined to fix it all on his own without making use of charity. Hond and Camille would eventually find solutions with the assistance of the others, she was sure of it. If the gods existed, and they did, then those two lost souls would be rewarded for the good that they’ve done. Aya would become the warrior she was destined to be, there was no doubt  
about that. And Hannah... Hannah would keep on existing, doing whatever it was that she does.

It was a shame that she wouldn’t be able to see her family once more before she left the mortal plane, though that couldn’t really be helped. With luck, time would pass more quickly on the other side, so she wouldn’t have to feel the centuries move by till she was reunited with them. She hadn’t seen Magnus in so long...

Fay’vre can feel the end coming, that moment when her thread will be severed and she will leave her friends behind. But before this moment can come to pass, someone takes hold of her arm and wrenches her back towards the light, forcefully. Fay’vre wakes to see Aya above her, bringing her back from the beyond at just the right moment. Behind her, Hannah shoots the stone giant dead, and Fay realises exactly what Aya has done, the weight of her actions. She will remember this debt.


	8. Bonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fay considers friendship, and what to make of it.

Fay’vre had never had a little sister. She was always the youngest, the puniest, the inferior Elenviel sibling. Magnus hadn’t made her feel bad about being younger (that was her other siblings’ job), but she had idolised in that particular way one looks up to an older brother. He was everything she wanted to be, until she decided that she wanted more.

After she left home she considered herself to be an equal to her peers, or at the very least on the same level as them. Jamie stood out in her mind as the prime example of this - somebody who was both special and so very familiar. There was no power imbalance, they were able to coexist easily.

Then came Hannah, who reminded Fay of Jamie in that same way. From their first encounter, despite the specifics of the meeting, she felt as if Hannah was her teammate rather than her leader or subordinate, and that the woman would treat her the same way. Their years of friendship hadn’t proved this suspicion wrong, cementing their status as a cohesive unit who worked in tandem (provided that the task didn’t involve secrets and political intrigue, in which case it was a solo mission for her friend - it didn’t bother her, most days).

Though she had initially held the other members of their... adventuring party... in little regard, she had never seen them as inferior in rank. Inferior in intellect perhaps, but they contributed to the team effort so weren’t entirely useless. Amthos and Hond drew danger to their group like flies to a carcass, but their impulsive decisions had also saved their lives on numerous occasions. Fay respected Camille and wanted to assist with the search for a cure for her predicament, but that was really where their relationship ended. And then came Aya.

Aya was everything she imagined she had been to her elder siblings - endearing, confusing and a bit much for the most part. However much she tried not to care, she found herself worried about the halfling’s silences and isolation. She had gone from enthusiastic and friendly to withdrawn in a matter of months, which couldn’t be helping with any  
homesickness that she was feeling. Fay had been young and embarking on her first adventure once too.

If things didn’t start changing soon (and the forthcoming tournament at the Carving Pit could either help or hinder Aya’s state of mind), then Fay would consult Magnus about how to proceed. He had experience in dealing with one’s younger sister, he would know what to do.


	9. The Fountain, part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A childhood recollection.

The calm trickle of water from the decorative fountain dulled her senses, as Fay'vre sat cross-legged on the ground beside it. She breathed in and out, attempting to steady her rapidly beating pulse, trying to let the sounds of nature overtake her mind.

Whilst Fay was aware that there was no reason to be so annoyed at Magnus, she couldn't help herself. He was supposed to be her ally in this madhouse, but he had chosen to take mother's side. He thought that the best place for her to be was on some politician's arm, cloyingly smiling at his rhetoric and hating her life.

Well _fuck that._

Fay continued to breathe, smelling the freshly mown grass beneath her and the damp earth beneath that. She closed her eyes and tried to forget the duty that supposedly awaited her, that her parents would force her towards no matter her wishes.

She tried to forget, but the thought remained coiled inside her brain like a necrotic tendril of energy, resistant to all remedies. But that image helped to distract her, reminding her of the homework the temple had set for the week: examining some examples of expert cursework and stating how she would cure them. She frowned in concentration, recalling the first example and trying to solve it from memory.

That exercise kept her occupied for a few minutes and, combined with the breathing (which she was now doing subconsciously) and the sound of the fountain, she eventually became much calmer than she'd been inside the house moments earlier. She supposed that this would have to do: remaining calm in the face of a storm because that, in itself, was a kind of power that she could retain no matter what.


	10. The Fountain, part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A childhood recollection.

Fay stormed out of the house, marching with fury to reach the fountain in their back garden. Small indents were left in her wake as the dew-covered grass bowed under her feet, marking her progression semi-permanently. Lifting the training sword at her side, she tore at the decorative shrubs in her path, aiming to mar, to disfigure, to ruin something in this picture-perfect landscape. It was too perfectly neat, too penned in to be truly beautiful, and she couldn’t take it anymore.

Everything in this godforsaken house was tidy: no personal items were to be left lying around, and they were swiftly removed if not properly put away. Fay had lost many a stuffed toy to this extreme form of conditioning. She liked cleanliness, but there was something to be said about comfort, which can’t be attained through minimalist interior design. There was something to be said for feeling the grass and mud between your fingers as you cling to something solid and dependable, hearing the natural world around you. _You are not alone_ , it seemed to say. _You are amongst friends._

Magnus eventually came and found her, talked her down from the mental ledge she had climbed onto, but the seed had been planted. Fay wouldn’t be staying in this house for long.


	11. Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-campaign overthinking.

That day, Hannah was different. It wasn't as if she was usually very talkative, but the silence was no longer comfortable, and she was fidgeting with her hands, twisting them between her fingers in a constant state of motion. Fay knew better than to bring up Hannah's relationship, though she was pretty sure that this was the reason for her friend's discontent, so she instead guided her straight when she varied off course, filled in silences when Hannah trailed off unexpectedly. It was the least she could do.

If this was the worst case scenario, and the problem was the ending of her friend's relationship, then Fay could only speculate on how Hannah was feeling. Sure, she had cared for Jamie, but their relationship hadn't been of the same kind as Hannah and Katie. Jamie and Fay had connected, but on a less emotional level, and that's all they'd wanted. When they parted, it was with no hard feelings, so Fay couldn't really relate to... whatever all of this entailed. She would just try to be there, a constant in Hannah's moment of emotional turmoil. And if Hannah ever wanted to talk, she'd listen.


	12. Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fay has a decision to make. (Pre-campaign, I think)

Fay had never known when to speak her mind, even when explicitly asked for her opinion. The person doing the asking usually didn't really care, at least that was what she'd found in the past, so why bother responding? Today, the predicament was more based in phrasing - how does one say the right thing, without revealing too much? Of course she wanted to accompany Hannah on her new mission, but in order to share this sentiment she'd have to say why, which was more complicated.

Fay had never really had 'friends'. She'd had people in her life, family members, Jamie, but till now she'd never known what humans meant by friendship. It was nice. But how does one express this feeling without sounding overly sentimental?

In the time it had taken Fay to think these thoughts, Hannah had moved the conversation along, so Fay let it go. It wasn't until later, when her friend presumably remembered that she had never responded, that she was forced to speak.

"Life _would_ be pretty dull..." Fay replied with a small smirk. "Without you around, how would I ensure that my skills were up to scratch?"

After a moment, she continued, wrinkling her nose in thought. "And anyway, where would I go? In case you hadn't noticed, I barely have anything to do when you're not around. If I wanted to stand around all day without contributing anything worthwhile to the world, I'd go back to Ichor."

Despite the semi-seriousness of her tone, the smirk returned towards the end of her response. It had been a while since she poked fun at her motherland, she missed it. Not the place, gods no. Well, not much. But she had a feeling that she wouldn't mind visiting in the near future, if an opportunity arose. It had been a while since she'd heard from her siblings, and it might be nice to (very briefly) visit them all. Then leave again.

"Also," she continued as an afterthought, "as if you'd be able to leave me behind." She scoffed. "I promised your parents I'd keep an eye on you, and I intend to stick to my word." She smiled to keep the tone light, striding past her friend to avoid lingering on... feelings.


	13. Errands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pre-campaign Hannah/Katie fluff, from Fay's POV (that's a weird way to phrase it, but oh well).

At last, Fay knew the origin of the mysterious "errands" that Hannah disappeared to wherever they were in her hometown. After a couple of months, she'd grown suspicious, and it had started to really bug her after 6 months. But now, about a year after they'd begun travelling together, Hannah finally let Fay into the secret.

Not that she explicitly told Fay that this woman was the reason why they constantly returned to Freya, but it didn't take a lot of insight to see the rosy glow in her friend's cheeks and the glint in her eye when she saw the golden curls of Katie bouncing towards her. It seemed that Hannah had good taste, thank goodness, and Fay was pleased to see her friend in a state of happiness for once.

After the formal introductions, Fay made herself scarce, knowing that the two women would want to be left alone, but she did so with the knowledge that Hannah trusted her and was in good hands, so she was content.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading; if you want to follow our DnD exploits live, please check out the #Skyfront tag on twitter.


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